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Friday, 14 July 2017

Three Budget Strikers - FPL 2017/2018

Tammy Abraham (SWA):

Price: 5.5m

Fixtures: sot, MNU, cpl, NEW, tot

Tammy Abraham
secured a loan move from Chelsea to Swansea for the upcoming season. In terms
of FPL, he comes in at the very low price of 5.5m. Having scored 23 goals in
the Championship last season and participating the U21 Euros representing
England, in which he helped them to the semi-finals, Abraham will have momentum
and confidence going into this season. A loan move to Swansea will hopefully
see him further develop closer to what Chelsea and their fans imagine him being
in a few seasons time. However, a loan move to Swansea doesn’t mean guaranteed
game time.

Therefore,
to analyse Abraham’s starting prospect we have to look at how Swansea lineup
and any potential injuries that could see him start for the Swans come GW1 and
make him a great budget option which we should all consider. First up is the
main factor, the Llorente injury. According to many reports, Llorente is
doubtful for the start of the season as he sustained a broken arm on holiday
and the statement "We have to see. It’s not impossible that he could be ready for the
start of the season”, courtesy of premierinjuries.com,
boosts Abraham’s appeal as this situation gives Abraham an opportunity to break into the
team. Furthermore, in the last five matches of last
season, Clement decided to play with two forwards in front of a midfield
diamond, with the forward partnership of Llorente and Ayew combining for pace
and strength in attack. This system was quite successful as Clement was able to
steer Swansea away from relegation.However Abraham will be competing against the likes of Ayew for starts in the Premier
League. That said, regardless of competition, Abraham should still get multiple starts in the upcoming season and the England tag will assist him in
doing just that. So, at a very affordable price of 5.5m and good prospects to
start for the Swans in the upcoming season, Abraham is a budget option that
should be considered.

Jay Rodriguez (WBA):

Price: 6.0m

Fixtures: BOU, bur, STK, bha, WHU

When West
Brom announced that they had signed Southampton’s Jay Rodriguez, there was a
large buzz in the FPL community as he would be the perfect 4th/5th midfielder considering the allocated price. However, when @OfficialFPL
announced that he was reclassified as a forward in the upcoming FPL season, the
buzz died down.

He shouldn’t be disregarded as an option purely based
on other options being more viable in his position. Rodriguez is an experienced
player in the Premier League. When fit and healthy, Rodriguez is exceptional. This
was evident in the 2013/14 season when Jay Rodriguez scored 15 goals and ended
on 152 points in FPL along with 6 goals and 8 assists in the 2012/13 season. A few
injury stricken seasons dampened his development but he still managed 5 goals
and 2 assists last season. For the upcoming season, Rodriguez is in a West Brom
team in which he will be one of the key stars and will be crucial to WBA having
a successful season. Therefore, barring any major injuries, Rodriguez will most
likely be able to regain the form of his previous seasons and this makes him a
viable option for the forward position in FPL, especially with the 6.0m price
tag and the fixtures to start the season.

Dwight Gayle (NEW):

Price: 6.5m

Fixtures: TOT, hud, WHU, swa, STK

Gayle had
an exceptional season with Newcastle in the Championship last season. He
managed 23 goals and 2 assists in 26 games. As a result, Gayle was given a 6.5m
price tag for the upcoming FPL season. The selection of Gayle in fantasy has divided
many manager with some saying that he is a great budget option enabling the
selection of other premium players while others are saying he’s too much of a
rotation risk with Newcastle’s plethora of attacking options available for
Benitez to use, which are both, solid arguments that must be considered.

Gayle is a
great budget option has a good track record in the Premier League in his several
seasons with Crystal Palace with 15 goals over 3 seasons given limited amount of
game time in that period. The low price of 6.5m and a decent run of fixtures
does indeed make him a good budget option. On the other side of the spectrum,
Gayle has also shown himself as a rotation risk during the season

in the Championship
as he was constantly rotated with Mitrovic, Perez and Murphy. Further, 26 games
played is a lot compared to the Premier League but when considering the 46
game Championship season, he was rotated for almost half of the season. Therefore,
Gayle is a good budget option with his respective goal scoring ability and
influence but fantasy managers should be aware of the rotation risk involved
with owning him.